This shirt is actually a
muslin for a planned T-Shirt reconstruction. A while ago I bought a
used SYSTEM OF A DOWN (which is one of my all-time favourite bands)
on ebay. It is a regular XL mens shirt, I didn't even look at the
size as I bid for it – knowing that it would become a refashion.
Personally I prefer raglan sleeves so that's what I'm going to do
with the band shirt.

To test the fit of the
Burda pattern (copied out of the magazine) I plan to use for the band
shirt I made this one. And boy I'm glad I did so before cutting into
the SYSTEM shirt! Although I used my usual (German) size 40 for the
pattern it feels rather tight, especially around the upper arm (seems
that hauling around a toddler and huge quantities of horse feed (and
poop) all the time trains one up a bit!). It is also pretty short,
but I knew that beforehand because the green shirt was not very long
to begin with.

The green shirt belonged
to my brother who dabbled in Moto-Cross during his wild days and the
sleeves I cut from an old shirt out of my refashion stash. I will
probably do one more dummy with the tweaked pattern before tackling
the real thing :)

I feel like an idiot. I posted about this skirt this morning, but I had this awful feeling looking at the photos that the skirt looked, well, wrong. I didn't like it after all. The original Celine skirt that inspired me had a waistband. So I removed the facings from my skirt, re-sewed the darts to bring the skirt up to waist level, and made a waistband. I think it looks so much better now! Call me crazy.... But it does qualify for a refashion now!

Last week I was criticised in a comment for sewing from scratch, as opposed to a "refashion". Well, this is another "sewn from scratch", but it's made using all leftover fabrics from other projects, so may pass the refashion police... I know it's OK to use new fabric though! I drafted my own pattern and was inspired by a Celine skirt. The hemline looks wonky here, but this is just the way it's sitting in this photo, it really is straight! Funny name for a skirt, I know, but I'm having a go at naming my stuff a la Anthropologie...

I started a new refashion project, making a skirt/sarouel out of trousers. It's not finished yet but in a few days I hope... If it's a complete disaster we can at least laugh about it... :)

Meanwhile I did a little creating, not really refashioning, using some yarn form my stash. I am totally obsessed with fabric jewelry as you can see on my blog. Usually I make my necklaces without sewing machine so whenever I am traveling somewhere (and that's quite often) I take some fabric scraps with me. This one is a little bit different since it's made of wool not fabric but I count that as a same family:

From now on I will travailing with some yarn in a bag for a new wool necklaces. :)

the case has been dropped im free to go because my "Lawyer" Erin tells me that ...."the rules state that new clothes required for work can be purchased without using your get out of jail free card." and to think the guilt was just eating me up inside. Ill be taking my get out of jail free card back now thank you very much. (thanks Erin) I just love this community. i now know that i will be making the two month commitment with out a hitch. Ill be posting soon.

I had grabbed a dress from my local dollar-a-pound thrift store seeing its awesome fabric. Red and white and what look like ginko leaves!

But it turned out to look like this when I put it on at home:

So I cut off the sleeves, took in the sides, put some vintage seam binding (I knew that would come in handy at some point!) around the new armholes, and made it into this:

Also, I decided to refashion a bangle bracelet that I had gotten with a mixed jewelry lot and never worn. I'd started panting it with nail polish a few weeks ago and never finished because it still looked pretty bad.

I covered it with an edging from my stash, wrapping it around and hot-gluing it in place. Much more interesting. And now, as it's a bit smaller, this might actually stay on my hand...

ok i am falling on my sword and begging for mercy because....... wait for it....... i had to purchase a new item. Now i am going to proceed to run down a list of all of my excuses.

* due to my ever growing girth"y" midsection and chunky thighs due to not procreation, but recreational eating. (This tragedy was brought to you by snickers bars, lactose free bryers ice cream and my new kick of cooking everything from scratch and not buying processed foods that i can make myself) How do the amish stay so fit, i guess when their horses are resting, they are hoofing it. This thing might still work if i get up after each delicious home cooked morsel and moved around..... that is a thought, i might try it.

* And a job opportunity of a life time came about suddenly. I was asked to come interview for a position that is both challenging and rewarding all at once. Working in the field of Alzheimer's and Dementia is my passion, and i find it very gratifying.

* All of my professional interview suits were fitting like wet suits ( i couldn't leave a bad 1st impression) and i didn't have enough time to loose any of this extra fluffy padding before the interview.

* There was no time for me to pull it all together and sew myself a suit. I thought about it but i realized i would be burning the midnight oil trying to finish and i would look sharp in my suit but i would be lethargic and incoherent. (not a good impression).

* I could not find a suit at the thrift that didn't say golden girls circa 1980's (sorry but i can be creative in my personal life but in my professional life it's all business not jokes) that is until i get the job!

So after 8 months prior to my pledge of thrifting and refashioning ONLY (I was off the juice, kicked my habit, didn't even have any cravings) and then waiting anxiously to sign up in for march's two month challenge, i couldn't even make it the whole two months before falling off the wagon.

but if i get this position, it will all be worth it. I Got a gray with white pinstriped pant suit and thank you Tahari for making a well cut suit that fit over my lovely lady lumps.

ok now that i have confessed ill be using my get out of jail card..... thank you very much, now someone come down and bail me out of this hell hole..... and don't forget to bring me a toothbrush!!!!

I made a toddler messenger bag from 2 pairs of my son's pants. Not
only is this a refashion, but before my boy grew out of them, I had
acquired the beige cargo pants from the thrift shop. The lining is
made from donated scraps. I adapted this bag from the tutorial at Noodlehead.
(I made it smaller because the pants were smaller...) My youngster refused to
pose, but maybe I can try him again later.